Six defendants charged with attempting to steal approximately $80 million in government check fraud scheme

March 20, 2025 — Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; Leslie R. Backschies, the Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); and Harry T. Chavez, Jr., the Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), announced the unsealing of a four-count criminal Indictment charging Shan Anand, Nosakhare Nobore, Nicholas Pappas, Leonard Ujkic, Solomon Aluko, a/k/a D1 ReallyRich, and Jorge Gonzalez with a scheme to fraudulently obtain checks and launder the proceeds. Many of the checks were funds provided by the government for COVID-19 relief that the defendants stole before depositing into bank accounts opened using sham businesses or stolen or fake identities. In total, the defendants attempted to steal approximately $80 million and succeeded in depositing approximately $50 million.  Read More